Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

Syracuse Stage Brings Back Holiday Favorite ‘The Santaland Diaries’ Dec. 9

Thursday, November 19, 2015, By Kristina Starowitz
Share
Syracuse Stage

Back by popular demand: David Sedaris’ perfect antidote to holiday madness. For those who like a little jeer with their Christmas cheer, “The Santaland Diaries” offers Crumpet, a 33-year-old starving artist turned Macy’s elf. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but who would know it from the bad Santas, naughty elves, cranky kids, and pushy parents who test Crumpet’s last elfin nerve. With sardonic wit, Sedaris takes us all playfully to task for plunging into the Christmas spirit while missing the point. This is for mature elves only.

Santaland“The Santaland Diaries” performs Dec. 9-Jan. 3 in the Storch Theatre at the Syracuse Stage/Drama Complex, 820 E. Genesee St. The opening night performance is Friday, Dec. 11, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets and information are available at http://www.syracusestage.org, by phone at 315-443-3275, or in person at the Syracuse Stage Box Office (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and two hours before the show). Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more at 315-443-9844. Discounts are also available for seniors, students and U.S military personnel and veterans. Sign interpretation, open captioning and audio description services are available for select performances.

In 2008, Syracuse Stage presented “The Santaland Diaries” as a stage adaptation by Tony Award-winning director Joe Mantello. Director Wendy Knox and Wade McCollum as Crumpet the Macy’s elf return for a repeat engagement, bringing back the familiar skewered holiday humor that made the initial production so popular.

“Sedaris sees an everyday event and spins it into words in a way that is so delightful. He can pick up a detail and assign it a meaning and it just becomes so funny,” says Knox.

Considered a master of satire, Sedaris writes “The Santaland Diaries” with sarcastic humor and cultural commentary, but with clear intent to illuminate how, in the rush of the holiday season, we overlook what is truly important.

Sedaris is the award-winning author of nine books of essays.  His plays have been produced at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, Lincoln Center, and the Drama Department in New York City. These plays include, “Stump the Host;” “Stitches;” “One Woman Shoe;” which received an Obie Award; and “The Book of Liz,” published by the Dramatists Play Service. He was also nominated for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album for his original radio pieces on “This American Life.” In 2001, Sedaris became the third recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, and was named Time magazine’s humorist of the year.

The hilarity of “The Santaland Diaries” has made it a holiday favorite since Sedaris’ first script reading, hosted on NPR’s “Morning Edition” in 1992. Knox noted that it has become so popular because of the show’s welcome comedic relief in a season overrun with distraught parents, crying children and consumerism.

 

  • Author

Kristina Starowitz

  • Recent
  • Syracuse University Press Participating in Path to Open Program
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Cristina Hatem
  • A&S Chemistry Professor Receives Award From the American Chemical Society
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By News Staff
  • ‘Guys and Dolls’ Opens Syracuse University Department of Drama 2023/24 Season
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Joanna Penalva
  • Libraries Add MindSpa Wellness Rooms
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Cristina Hatem
  • iSchool Professors, Students Honored With ALISE Awards
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Anya Woods

More In Arts & Culture

‘Guys and Dolls’ Opens Syracuse University Department of Drama 2023/24 Season

The Syracuse University Department of Drama begins the 2023/24 season with “Guys and Dolls,” directed by Banji Aborisade, reviving the classic musical–with a twist. Performances will be held Oct. 6-15 in the Storch Theatre at the Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Complex,…

Cool Class: Mona Awad’s Art of the Fairy Tale

From an early age, fairy tales enter our lives and shape our view of the world. The classics like “Cinderella,” “Rapunzel” and “Beauty and the Beast” help to build literacy and expand our imagination. But young children aren’t the only…

Annual Lecture Honoring Physics Professor Kameshwar C. Wali to Be Held on Oct. 5

The Wali Lecture is an annual event where the sciences and humanities converge, fostering dialogue and new perspectives on current topics for all who attend. The 2023 Kashi and Kameshwar C. Wali Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 5, will honor the…

University to Hold Public Symposium Exploring Role of Monuments in Society

Scholars, artists, curators, activists, local historians and members of the public will convene at Syracuse University Oct. 6-7 to discuss the rightful place of monuments in our society and the increasing complexity they represent today in terms of their cultural,…

Human Rights Film Festival: Changing the World, One Conversation at a Time

From the rural landscape of Michigan, to the devastated landscape of Bucha in the Ukraine, to the virtual landscape of the African diaspora, filmmakers address social issues and the fight for human rights around the globe at the 21st annual…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.